Category: World News

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left a key short-term U.S. interest rate unchanged, but the central bank also said it expects inflation “to move up this year” in a sign it’s likely to hike rates at its next meeting in March. The central bank said inflation is likely to stabilize around its 2% target, dropping

The Treasury Department on Wednesday said it plans to raise the size of upcoming bond and note auctions this quarter by $42 billion to meet the increased funding needs from the Federal Reserve’s shrinking of its balance sheet and the recently passed tax bill. The department also announced it will auction $66 billion in notes

Fresh off a resounding confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Jerome Powell takes over as chairman of the Federal Reserve next week with the central bank facing big decisions about monetary policy. The Fed is not only in the process of gradually raising interest rates, it also has been slowly reducing its massive balance sheet in

Interest rates and classic measures of inflation have been pinned down to historically muted levels in recent years. As both show signs of creeping higher, some market watchers see the combination as a potential headwind for stocks. Inflation and the 10-year Treasury yield rising together are of particular importance. The combination could be the “fly

The U.S. expanded at a 2.6% annual pace in fourth quarter, extending one of the best stretches of growth during the current eight-and-a-half-year-old upturn. GDP fell short of the 3% forecast, however, owing to lower inventory production and a bigger trade deficit. Consumer spending, the main engine of the economy, rose a strong 3.8%, the

President Donald Trump expects the U.S. economy to continue powering ahead in coming years, saying economic growth is likely to be higher than what most economists currently expect. In an interview aired Friday from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump was asked about forecasts that the U.S. economy would expand around 3% in the

U.S. wholesale prices rose in 2017 at the fastest pace in six years, a buildup in inflation that could push the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more aggressively unless it lets up. The producer price index increased 2.6% last year, even after a small decline in December. The PPI dipped 0.1% last month. The

The euro leapt against major rivals Thursday, following the release of minutes from the European Central Bank’s December meeting that showed the central bank could shift away from its ultra-loose monetary policy efforts this year. “The language pertaining to various dimensions of the monetary policy stance and forward guidance could be revisited early in the

First Japan, and now China, is getting markets notably the bond world stirred up. Bonds are the topic du jour, especially after the Bank of Japan got everyone a bit worked up yesterday by trimming its government bond purchases. Then this morning, Bloomberg reported China is considering cutting back on its U.S. Treasury holdings. Timing